Alright, managed to put in a bunch of hours into the game over the weekend. I'm enjoying myself. Some quick, unsorted thoughts:
-I'm player 2 so I'm not gonna pretend to know what's happening with the equipment system. For some simple observations: seems confusing, and seems like most of the time new gear comes off as worse at face value, so you end up sticking with your old gear when the new stuff could potentially be better.
-Combat is fun. I'm not enough of an expert to pinpoint the changes but it feels like a slight step down from Graces, but still fine. Battles can feel too chaotic at times, even for a Tales game (due in no small part to the camera I'm sure). Also Rose's Dream Slasher seems absurdly good. Combo into it from a Fang Blade for big damage.
-I don't dislike a single character in the cast so far which is a massive plus (except for Alisha, bye). Glad they went that route with the token kid character, she's awesome.
-I'm sure it's been talked about to death already but the co-op battle camera is hilariously awful. Emphasis on hilarious. Got old real fast but it got some good laughs at first.
-Easily the most memorable Tales soundtrack in ages.
Overall, solid Tales game so far, feels about in line with the other PS3 entries. Looking forward to when it picks up since it's a little slow moving right now.